Visitors celebrate Earth Day at Eglin (GALLERY)

Evelyn Cunningham, left, and her daughter-in-law Susan Wagner walk the Eco-Trail at White Point Recreation Area on the Eglin reservation for Eglin Earth Week.

NICK TOMECEK / Daily News

By LAUREN SAGE REINLIE / Daily News

Published: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 05:38 PM.

EGLIN AFB — Evelyn Cunningham and her daughter-in-law Susan Wagner meandered down a sandy path running along Choctawhatchee Bay under the shade of towering 100-year-old long leaf pines.

They were on a hiking tour organized by Eglin’s Environmental Resource Department Wednesday in honor of Earth Day, which was Monday. The department, which oversees Eglin’s 464,000 acres of reservation land, has hosted several events this week aimed at increasing awareness about what it takes to manage a range of that size.

Along the trail at White Point Recreation Center, the dozens of people who stopped periodically to lean in, listen and learn from staffers able to talk at length about topics ranging from endangered and invasive species to wildfires, sea turtles and snakes.

Cunningham, 74, said her daughter-in-law knew it was a perfect way to get her out of the house.

“I love to be outdoors,” she said. “And I know a lot about this area, but they talked about some things I’ve never even heard of.”

That included one stop where an expert spoke about the cattle dip vats scattered across Florida. They were used in the early 1900s to treat cattle for ticks and then later other maladies, and they often are contaminated with arsenic and myriad toxic chemicals.

Eglin has cleaned up 17 cattle dip vats and has restored one as a historical landmark.

At another stop, Carrie Gindel stood before a motley congregation of stuffed animals — a snarling bobcat, a howling wolf, a hungry gopher, an armadillo and an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake — all of which can be found on the reservation.

A more lively red rat snake, also known as a corn snake, slithered through her hands.

She said most people had been asking her about the snakes: which ones are poisonous and what to do if they encounter one in the wild.

She spoke about how the non-venomous Eastern Indigo snake is threatened with extinction. It lives in gopher burrows on the reservation, which are home to more than 80 animal species.

The longleaf pine ecosystem that covers much of the reservation also is threatened. Where there were once 90 million acres of the slow-growth trees across the country, now only about 3 million acres exist.

Forester Dale Gartman stood along the trail holding a year-old longleafseedling, about 1 foot long from root to its green grassy top.

About a hundred feet away he pointed at a longleaf pine reaching hundreds of feet into the sky, which he estimated was about 125 years old. Some trees on the reservation are about 400, he said.

Each year, Jackson Guard foresters hand-plant about 800,000 of the seedlings to maintain their forest and to keep it – and the endangered species it houses – from extinction.

Down the trail, Jackson Guard firefighter Brett Williams stood next to an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a flame thrower used during prescribed, or controlled, burns. The burns help preserve the forest from invasive species and prevent wildfires by clearing out dead brush.

They try to burn 90,000 acres a year on average, which means each part of the forest gets a healthy burn about every four years.

Firefighters also put out about 100 wildfires each year, Williams said. About 90 percent of those are caused during military training and testing missions.

The final stop backed up to a residential neighborhood.

Dennis Teague pointed to a bright green Chinese Tallow, or popcorn tree, in one of the home’s backyards.

Then he turned around and pointed into the forest where dozens of juvenile popcorn trees had sprouted and were quickly taking over.

“This is where we draw the battle lines,” Teague said.

Foresters spend a lot of time patrolling the perimeter between urban property and the reservation to try to eradicate invasive and exotic species like the popcorn tree. They pull them by hand if possible, but sometimes must resort to herbicide to kill them off.

This was the second year Eglin hosted the eco-tours as part of its Earth Day celebration.

Mike Spaits, a spokesman for Eglin’s environmental resource department, said the base ranks highest in the Department of Defense in the conservation arena.

“We wanted to try to show the community and the base population just how good of stewards we are,” he said.

EGLIN AFB — Evelyn Cunningham and her daughter-in-law Susan Wagner meandered down a sandy path running along Choctawhatchee Bay under the shade of towering 100-year-old long leaf pines.

They were on a hiking tour organized by Eglin’s Environmental Resource Department Wednesday in honor of Earth Day, which was Monday. The department, which oversees Eglin’s 464,000 acres of reservation land, has hosted several events this week aimed at increasing awareness about what it takes to manage a range of that size.

Along the trail at White Point Recreation Center, the dozens of people who stopped periodically to lean in, listen and learn from staffers able to talk at length about topics ranging from endangered and invasive species to wildfires, sea turtles and snakes.

Cunningham, 74, said her daughter-in-law knew it was a perfect way to get her out of the house.

“I love to be outdoors,” she said. “And I know a lot about this area, but they talked about some things I’ve never even heard of.”

That included one stop where an expert spoke about the cattle dip vats scattered across Florida. They were used in the early 1900s to treat cattle for ticks and then later other maladies, and they often are contaminated with arsenic and myriad toxic chemicals.

Eglin has cleaned up 17 cattle dip vats and has restored one as a historical landmark.

At another stop, Carrie Gindel stood before a motley congregation of stuffed animals — a snarling bobcat, a howling wolf, a hungry gopher, an armadillo and an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake — all of which can be found on the reservation.

A more lively red rat snake, also known as a corn snake, slithered through her hands.

She said most people had been asking her about the snakes: which ones are poisonous and what to do if they encounter one in the wild.

She spoke about how the non-venomous Eastern Indigo snake is threatened with extinction. It lives in gopher burrows on the reservation, which are home to more than 80 animal species.

The longleaf pine ecosystem that covers much of the reservation also is threatened. Where there were once 90 million acres of the slow-growth trees across the country, now only about 3 million acres exist.

Forester Dale Gartman stood along the trail holding a year-old longleafseedling, about 1 foot long from root to its green grassy top.

About a hundred feet away he pointed at a longleaf pine reaching hundreds of feet into the sky, which he estimated was about 125 years old. Some trees on the reservation are about 400, he said.

Each year, Jackson Guard foresters hand-plant about 800,000 of the seedlings to maintain their forest and to keep it – and the endangered species it houses – from extinction.

Down the trail, Jackson Guard firefighter Brett Williams stood next to an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a flame thrower used during prescribed, or controlled, burns. The burns help preserve the forest from invasive species and prevent wildfires by clearing out dead brush.

They try to burn 90,000 acres a year on average, which means each part of the forest gets a healthy burn about every four years.

Firefighters also put out about 100 wildfires each year, Williams said. About 90 percent of those are caused during military training and testing missions.

The final stop backed up to a residential neighborhood.

Dennis Teague pointed to a bright green Chinese Tallow, or popcorn tree, in one of the home’s backyards.

Then he turned around and pointed into the forest where dozens of juvenile popcorn trees had sprouted and were quickly taking over.

“This is where we draw the battle lines,” Teague said.

Foresters spend a lot of time patrolling the perimeter between urban property and the reservation to try to eradicate invasive and exotic species like the popcorn tree. They pull them by hand if possible, but sometimes must resort to herbicide to kill them off.

This was the second year Eglin hosted the eco-tours as part of its Earth Day celebration.

Mike Spaits, a spokesman for Eglin’s environmental resource department, said the base ranks highest in the Department of Defense in the conservation arena.

“We wanted to try to show the community and the base population just how good of stewards we are,” he said.